


Paper Boat

by EvilMuffins



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Aruani Week, F/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-25 04:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2608025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/pseuds/EvilMuffins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A doll in a box, a paper boat set adrift…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paper Boat

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Aruani Week. Prompt was 'Missing You'.

“I can’t believe we did it. I can’t believe they’re finally all gone...”

“Well, you should believe it, Armin,” Eren clapped a hand onto the shorter boy’s shoulder, “It was all thanks to your careful planning. You were amazing! Wasn’t he, Mikasa?”

The girl nodded with a smile.

The sea lapped around their bare feet, boots having been discarded within moments of discovering the shore.

This was it. This was what Armin had always wished for. …Then why didn’t it feel quite right? Something was missing. Eren and Mikasa were by his side, and he was incredibly thankful for it. It was practically a miracle that they all had made it. He wasn’t sure what had become of the rest of squad, but his two best friends were here, and he tried to remain focused on that. However, another face kept creeping into his mind- an image of blond hair trapped behind crystal, like one of those little ballerina figures inside of mechanical jewelry boxes. He had wanted to tear open the crystal and pull the girl out, like a child would the tiny doll in the box, but he hadn’t been able to in the end. He couldn’t get there in time and now he would never see her again…

“Thank you, guys… Hey, um, do you think you could give me a few minutes alone?”

“What the hell, Armin?” Eren pulled his hand away. “After all that, you like the ocean more than your own friends?”

Mikasa pulled him away by the arm, frown clear on her face.

She had never forgiven Annie, but she was still somehow understanding of Armin’s feelings. Who he cared for was his own decision to make.

Armin sat down on the wet sand, taking a book from his bag. It was one he had first learned of the ocean from as a boy. He pulled out a pen and scrawled something on the title page. Satisfied with his work, he tore the sheet out, folding it into a neat little boat, and setting it adrift…

* * *

 

It was quite some years later and Armin had opened up a bookshop outside the walls, hoping to further prove to the people that things were now safe. He spent the time between customers chronicling the adventures of his teen years.

One day the shop doorbell rang, the sound no different than any other time. Yet, even before he looked up, he _knew_. Even after all these years, he had never met another human being with the same presence, the same purpose and grace in their every movement.

“I’ve been told that you are skilled in preserving valuable documents.” The petite, hooded figure that had entered placed a weathered paper boat on the counter before him.

“This is a very precious treasure.”

The ink was smeared and almost unrecognizable, but it was no matter, they both remembered.

_"Annie, I miss you."_

 

_The end_


End file.
